2 Selection of Farms
The project required six farms to be selected; all six for Agriculture NZ to calculate baseline indicators, and three of the six for Lincoln Environmental to test the implementation of the Guidelines.
2.1 SELECTION CRITERIA
The general criteria for selecting farms to test the Guidelines were:
- the three farms were to include a dairy farm and a cropping farm;
- two farms were to be spray irrigated and one farm border strip
- farmers needed to be co-operative and interested in the project;
- the farms would be of "average" standard, and
- reasonable proximity to Christchurch was required.
2.2 FARM SELECTION
Through consultation with MAF and Agriculture NZ, six irrigated farms, including the three farms for this project, were selected in September/October 1997. Originally, about twelve possible farms were considered, and after carrying out a pre-selection process, three farms were chosen for testing the Indicators, and the following three farms were chosen for testing the Guidelines:
- Andrew Mulholland, Bankside, dairy farm, border strip irrigated;
- Bruce Rolls, Te Pirita, dairy farm, spray irrigated (centre-pivot);
- Jos van de Klundert, cropping farm, spray irrigated (rotating boom).
The location of each of the three properties is shown in Figure 1.
The spray-irrigated dairy farm and the cropping farm are owner-operated, while the border strip dairy farm is owned by Mr Andrew Butler of Dunsandel, with Andrew Mulholland as sharemilker
This season (1997/98) was the first year of irrigated farming for Andrew Mulholland and Bruce Rolls.
Figure 1: Location of Farms Selected for Testing the Guidelines
Contact for Enquiries
MAF Information Services
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526
Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Fax: +64 4 894 0721
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